Xinshun 1730

Chapter 686 One year away from "benevolent government"

On November 11th in the Western calendar of this year, hundreds of thousands of citizens took to the streets in Colombo, Ceylon, and had to celebrate Ceylon’s Thanksgiving Day.

A hundred years ago, it was on this day that the Dutch drove the Portuguese away, so all Ceyloners should be grateful.If you do not participate in such a festival, each person will be fined 100 silver coins. Even if you do not believe in Catholicism or other variants of Christianity, Chinese immigrants who are considered a closed ethnic group by the Dutch in Batavia must participate.

The local Sinhalese described this "Thanksgiving Day" as "disgusting that ginger is too spicy, so they replaced it with pepper", which is a metaphor for the handover between the Portuguese and the Dutch.Changing it to a common saying among the Chinese is a fool.

But this year's Thanksgiving is a little different. There are bursts of salutes from the port from time to time.Many Chinese flocked to the port to see the Chinese fleet stop in Colombo.

These Chinese gradually understood the meaning of the battleship.

Just like when the warships of the Celestial Dynasty went to Batavia, the treatment of the Chinese improved.The immigrant who was rumored to be thrown into the sea halfway did not happen to be thrown into the sea, but the death rate was still high.

Those who survived were lucky. The first group of people had almost completed their indentured labor period, and they were about to become free farmers.

This is an unimaginably good thing in Batavia.

Many people think that most of the warships of the imperial court played a role.

For Chinese immigrants, life in Colombo is much better than in Batavia.

Because those who can afford the poll tax do not need to immigrate; those who cannot pay the poll tax can imagine their life in Batavia.

Good and bad are contrasted.

Although these three or four years have been quite bitter, at least there is hope and hope.

In Batavia, it was almost bitter, but there was no hope or hope: Before the large-scale liquidation of the sugar industry, the so-called hope and hope of the sugar factory workers were to say the same thing when they started to pay wages during the Chinese New Year. The fellow farmers in the village can give them copper coins and silver coins instead of lead coins that are issued internally and cannot be used after leaving the sugar factory; I can endure jobs that don’t require money for food, and my life is worse than those black or Balinese slaves, because slaves are property, and cattle are not beaten to death, but black households without a residence permit dare to run away. Report to the Dutch government and arrest him for hard labor.

No one made it clear to them that the root of all this stems from the Dutch colonial rule and divide-and-rule policy, as well as monopoly operations and extremely low sugar purchase prices.

However, people who can see through this point do not exist at this time.This requires peeling off the outer skin of the world to see through the essence. If someone can see through and spread these principles among the slave laborers, the Li family dynasty in Dashun would have been reduced to ashes long ago.

So the cruel Dutch, under the threat of the Dashun gunboat, transformed into a person who gave hope to these slave laborers.

Transported from Batavia to Ceylon, as long as they do hard work for Ceylon for three or four years, in fact, they are indentured slaves, and they can be allocated a piece of land.

A piece of land, a piece of land that belongs to oneself.

Including 36 mu of paddy fields and 24 mu of dry fields.However, these 24 acres of dry land need to be planted with indigo, coffee, or other crops on the land tax compensation list.

If the planting quantity is not enough, it will be compensated with rice or silver coins, or they will be arrested and imprisoned.

These lands cannot be bought, sold or leased, and can only be planted on a family basis.

This seemingly extremely harsh policy, in the eyes of these immigrant slave workers, is simply unparalleled benevolence.

These Fujianese and Cantonese, not to mention 60 mu of land, but if their family had 10 mu of land, it was impossible for them to go to Nanyang to work as slave labor.

Now the Dutch promise to give 36 mu of paddy fields and 24 mu of dry land, and only pay [-]% of the land rent according to the land.Then there is three weeks of free labor for the colonial government every year. If this is not "benevolent government", what is "benevolent government"?
At that time, the resettled immigrants will be appointed by the Dutch to Lei Zhenlan, who will be responsible for collecting the land rent in kind such as coffee and indigo that should be paid.If it is not enough, Lei Zhenlan will be punished, and Lei Zhenlan also has the power to punish subordinate farmers.

The Dutch will also come to buy coffee other than land rent, and they are not allowed to sell it to others privately, and the price is set by the Dutch.

The first batch of Chinese slave laborers who immigrated here back then are only one year away from the fulfillment of this "benevolent government".

Although less than five out of ten people have survived in the past few years, those who have survived until now are full of hope, counting the stars and looking forward to the moon, looking forward to the early arrival of this day.

To the Dashun court, their gratitude is similar to that to the Dutch—if the promise of the Dutch is really fulfilled.

Because once these immigrants came, there was a very clear rumor with a clear context.

It is said that the Dutch planned to kill all the unemployed Chinese who could not pay the poll tax.However, the imperial court sent a general who returned to the Western Regions and conquered Japan back then to Batavia with warships, and warned the Dutch: "These are all the sons of the Celestial Dynasty. If they dare to commit massacres, Batavia will not be spared."

The Dutchman was still trembling in Japan, and he was going to make a pilgrimage to the Japanese general.The general of the imperial court beat the Japanese to the point of crying for their father and mother. The Dutchman was so frightened that he had no choice but to immigrate to Ceylon.

The story is well told. Even the emperor was angry when he heard the news in the Forbidden Palace. Just in time for dinner, when he heard that the Dutch wanted to slaughter the Chinese, he smashed a bowl made of precious stones and chopsticks made of gold on jade. On the table, it was broken all over the place.

Immediately, Liu Yu, the general who had just finished defeating Japan, was about to be sent as the marshal to bring [-] heavenly soldiers to Batavia. The Dutch envoys were so frightened that they hurriedly changed their policy and so on...

This story has been circulating since the ship transporting people to Ceylon, and it seems to have become a fact in the past few years.

Most Dutch people also know this story. The problem is that there are so many immigrants, how can it be possible to find out who spread it?

This story is quite credible, because when I was in Batavia, another story was circulated before: I went to Ceylon and threw it into the sea to feed the fish halfway.

With the background of the previous story, this story is particularly believable.

In addition to this story, the imperial court also sent observers here. If there were any problems, the observers would also go to meet the Dutch.Sometimes, these tanned observation envoys who speak with a Gyeonggi or Weihai accent will go to the fields to talk to these immigrants and ask them about their difficulties.

Of course, these observers don't have such a high level of awareness, but because they know that being here is almost like serving a sentence.There are rules for doing what you should do, and you must go to the immigration center several times a year to look for it and so on.

If you can't finish it, just squat here for the rest of your life.If you do well, you may be promoted when you return.As for stealing and cheating, don't even think about it. Before the Marquis of Whale went to Europa, he told them clearly that someone was hiding among the immigrants and watching.

Squatting here and completing missions in Japan, North Korea, and Ryukyu in the future are completely different concepts.Not to mention the climate over there, but just talking about spending money to solve the problem of desire, at least stationed in Japan and North Korea, it can still be pleasing to the eye, but the things here are all dark, which is really uncomfortable.

Also, there is no chance of getting rich here.This is the territory of the Dutch, and the only extra money they can get is to accept bribes from the Dutch.But if you are accused in the future, you will have no future in your life; second, the Dutch are notoriously stingy, and it is unrealistic to expect them to bribe.

In addition to the "good and honest officials" that these slave workers rarely saw in their hometowns before they went to Nanyang, another good impression these immigrants had on the imperial court was that the imperial court sent people to station here, bought cattle and horses from India, Ironworks were brought in from the ironworks and rented out to everyone, who will be repaid slowly in the future.

This is truly benevolent government.

Nowadays, it is the benevolent government of the imperial court, which has been felt.

And the "benevolent government" of the Dutch will take at least a year to be truly realized.

As for now, I am still in the process of running towards hope, and I still have to work for the Dutch for free.

The only difference between them and those Tamil slaves is that they do not have the VOC logo branded with a soldering iron.

Because the Tamils ​​do not have a fleet of their own.And Dashun has a fleet that can sail long distances.

As for the rest, it's about the same.Like those Tamil slaves, they worked in the rice fields, built canals, built water storage tanks, reclaimed land, and built forts. They ate jackfruit, sometimes rice, or fish.

It is said that the Dutch were defeated in India, and the relationship with Britain and France was not good. Tamil slaves were not so lucky to go here.Moreover, the work efficiency of these Chinese contract slaves is indeed higher than that of those Tamils. At least for things like land reclamation, building canals, and dams, these Chinese are still more talented than Tamils, and they are relatively more obedient.

After all, Batavia was built by the Chinese.Up to now, the mansion of the descendants of the first Kapitan Su Minggang still hangs a plaque of "Founding Fathers".

But since the crowd can spread the story of the Dutch preparing to slaughter, there is a story about why they don't have the word VOC branded with a soldering iron.

This is called "The Holy Son of Heaven throws the jade bowl in anger, and the three chapters of Ying Suo Bo's covenant law".

One is not to be killed, two is not to be a slave, and three is not to be forcibly converted.

Today, the imperial fleet came to Colombo again. It is said that the fleet is larger than before, and there are more fleets. These Chinese in Ceylon vaguely feel that the Dutch promised "benevolent governance". More likely to cash out.

More and more Chinese immigrants gathered at the pier. Looking at the giant ships in the distance, they all knew that these giant ships were only staying here for a short time and would leave soon.

These people don’t have much money, so some of them hold the cheap jackfruit or the coconuts they picked here, and surround the officers in blue navy uniforms who are supplying supplies by the sea.

When several huge jackfruits and green coconuts were placed in front of Yonago Ming, as the second fleet commander and the admiral who captured Ceylon, he smiled and distributed these coconuts and jackfruits to the captain who was having a meeting in the room. Captains of each ship.

"People's hearts."

He broke open a coconut, took two sips of the juice from the green coconut, and said two simple but heavy words.

Then I tasted the coconut juice and said following the first two words: "It's so sweet."

The French East India Company has purchased enough supplies in Pondicherry, and the soldiers on board will have to manage and repair locally for a month before attacking Ceylon.There is no other way. Dashun doesn't have a stronghold in Nanyang, so it can only go to French India to repair.

The time Liu Yu set for him was the [-]rd day of the winter month at the earliest, Xiaonian, and the third day of the first month at the latest.In the meantime, act accordingly.

That is, mid-February 1745 in the Western calendar.

Because, on December 12th, the merchant fleet of the Sino-Swiss United Trading Company headed by the Free Trade and the Gothenburg will leave Songjiang.If all goes well, it will have passed India by mid-February.

After the Dutch got the news of the war, all the goods were sold out, and when they sailed back from Sweden next year, the armistice agreement must be signed, so as not to be robbed by the Dutch.The cargo of a batch of ships is several million taels of silver.

The envoys sent by Dashun to negotiate in Europe will also go with the merchant fleet.As for the results of the battle, it has not been fought yet, but it has been decided, from Ambon, to Ceylon, and several strongholds in India.

They wanted to take Dashun's victory in Nanyang to participate in the armistice negotiations of the War of Austrian Succession. One of the secret agreements agreed between Liu Yu and Louis XV was that the Netherlands must abolish the Treaty of the Anglo-Dutch Mutual Defense Alliance.

And the treaty that Dashun wants to reach with the Netherlands is the reorganization of VOC.

The Swedish East India Company has nothing to do with India, so it is better to call it the Chinese Goods Company, so Dashun can use the trade embargo to force Sweden to restructure its shares.

The Dutch East India Company has a closer relationship with Southeast Asia, and the amount of trade with China is not enough to demand such a large condition with a trade embargo, so it can only capture Southeast Asia.

(End of this chapter)